Hi all,
I have a 7th grader with ADHD/Dysgraphia at a mainstream private school. He is getting As and Bs but with a TON of extra support and scaffolding, and I’m considering moving him to an LD school for high school. I want to give him all the opportunities to have better self-esteem, learn independence, and of course I realize that if I’m constantly scaffolding him, he will not be prepared to navigate college on his own. All of that being said, I am anxious about college exmisssions. Is it really true, as I’ve been told by at least one person, that there are no “rules” about how selective colleges look at kids from LD schools? I’m not plunking for an Ivy, but there are a lot of great selective SLA colleges, and I don’t want my son to be out of the running based on the high school he goes to and any preconceived ideas that college admissions people have about LD schools. Any thoughts?
Kids from S23’s school did very well this year. For a class of about 70 kids, 2 got into Ivies. The best LD schools will have college counseling that emphasizes fit over name/rank and know where their kids are the most successful. To me, this is way more important than rank, but I don’t feel like any school was out of the running due to the preconceived ideas of OAs.
If your son needs help in high school, get him that help.
I don’t think college should matter at this point. What if he doesn’t make it to college?
There are very good schools that work with learning disabled kids, some for a fee.
Your concern should not be selective vs non. It should be getting your son in the environment he needs today and tomorrow - wherever that may be. Just my opinion.
College is a lifetime away - and if he decides to go, one school’s loss is another’s gain. Even then you need the right school, regardless of selectivity.
Good luck.
Thanks for these responses and yes you’re totally right- it’s not about selectivity, it’s about fit. I was more wondering if, in choosing between his getting by at a mainstream school vs (ideally) excelling at an LD school, whether it would make sense to stay mainstream (as in, would he potentially have more options for college)? I am learning now from everyone I talk to that it’s pretty clear that the better route is an LD school because this is about way more than college placement and finding the right high school and the right college for HIM trump anything else and will ultimately give him more opportunity
I haven’t started a serious school search but will be looking at NYC schools including Churchill and Mary McDowell. Forman and Eagle Hill both look amazing - I’m just afraid my son will refuse to do boarding school!
You sold me right there !!
There may not be college if the hs environment isn’t optimized so your student can learn.
Best of luck.
S23 went to Forman if you want to chat. He had an amazing outcome. There is a summer program if he wants to get a feel for it. So many kids go “just for the summer” and end up enrolling .
Thank you so much! I would absolutely love to hear more about about your experience. How did you first decide to send him for the summer? Also, feel free to PM me - I don’t know how to do it!
(To PM people you can just click on the large circle by their name and it will give you the option. I don’t think the option is available until you’ve made a minimum number of posts).
My son didn’t do the summer program, but his freshman roommate and a bunch of friends did. He knows all of the kids that are counselors this year as they use recent grads. This gives kids a good sense of the kind of kids that go there. (Counselors are not the ones teaching the academic classes).
We left public shool in 4th grade and my son was in a Montessori school until 8th. We loved it and felt lucky that he never lost his intellectual curiosity. He loved learning so we were really concerned about putting him in a high school that wasn’t going to give him the proper support to be in high level classes. He was the kind of kid that would have bulked aboutusing a class period for support so we wanted it built in and for all of the teachers to have an understanding of globally accessible classrooms. We were looking for “remediation” rather than support. We ended up choosing Forman because of the Ingenuity Program (I think they call it Prometheus now). Little did we know what Covid would end up shutting it down for awhile, but Forman ended up being a great decision. He ended up with 3 mentors that I think will be in his life forever and found a major/career I don’t think he would have really known about if it wasn’t for his experiences at Forman. He came in with so much experience in his major and such great leadership experience that he jumped right into a research position and is an officer in two of the biggest clubs on campus. He had a very smooth transition to college and was very well prepared.
I first started thinking about boarding school about 7th grade only because we didn’t really have a good fit nearby. I was doing a lot of research before I broached the subject with him and then when we went for his annual physical, all of the sudden his pediatrician asked us if we had ever thought about boarding school because she thought it would be great for him (we’d been talking about schools for years as it was hard to find a good fit for him and her daughter had just finished her first year at Eagle Hill). He was pretty excited about it and asked me a million questions in the car, so I just let him think it was all his idea.
This is a fantastic story!! How wonderful that you made the right decision.
We’ve been at a mainstream private since 4th grade, which was right around when we got his diagnoses (ADHD/dysgraphia). 7th grade thus far has been a big struggle and unfortunately I would say he’s never had much of a love of learning and I think would have been more inspired at a more progressive school. Just like you, I’m thinking of boarding schools because there are so many of them, and because I think this could majorly boost his confidence in the long run.
I’m definitely concerned that my son will not use extra supports unless they are really baked in.
Many private schools have a dedicated Instagram page showing where their graduates are enrolling after high school. Those might give you and idea of where students are matriculating after high school and if they seem in range of what your chuld might be considering. You can find it by searching instagram for School name class of 2025, or something similar. They’re not hard to find, the schools want to show off their acceptances and enrollments.